"The spiritual energy here is so rich."
Yan Lingji stood above the valley, gazing down at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well below, where red and white intertwined. Her peach-blossom eyes were full of wonder.
The icy and fiery spiritual energies collided and mingled in the air, turning into a hazy mist. Every breath left her feeling refreshed from head to toe.
"If I cultivated here, my speed could increase tenfold or more."
"Then don't even think about it."
"This place is a natural paradise for plants. A year here is equivalent to a hundred years in the outside world."
"But anything that isn't a plant can't survive here."
"What a pity."
"All right, little enchantress. Instead of sighing over it, why not go down and claim your reward?"
As soon as he spoke, a vast flood of information poured straight into Yan Lingji's consciousness—
The names and effects of the Immortal Herbs, how to pick them, the order in which to take them... everything was there.
"Taking the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass together, then tempering your body in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, will forge the Ice and Fire Golden Body, granting immunity to water and fire and resistance to all poisons. The External Soul Bone can also be empowered with the dual poisons of ice and fire."
"The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew will strengthen your spiritual power and take your Fire Charm Technique to the next level."
"The Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid will consolidate your foundation and make your Soul Power purer."
"The Aromatic Silk Beauty will transform your Martial Soul."
Yan Lingji's eyes gleamed, and the corners of her lips curved into a smile.
By the sound of it, she could get even stronger.
No wonder her master had sent her here.
This really was a treasure trove.
Just then, a cold voice rang out from the valley.
"Human, leave."
A figure slowly appeared above the mouth of the valley.
Her upper body belonged to an unparalleled beauty—
Her emerald hair fell to her waist. Her face was icy and alluring, and her pupils were slitted like a snake's.
But below her waist was a thick serpent's tail, its scales dark green and gleaming with a cold sheen in the sunlight.
On closer inspection, her emerald hair was actually made up of countless tiny green snakes, twisting and writhing until one's scalp prickled.
A thirty-thousand-year-old ruler among serpents—Medusa.
Every natural treasure had a Soul Beast guarding it. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was no exception.
"Take her alive. Don't kill her. We still need someone to guard this place."
"Yes, master."
Yan Lingji smiled seductively. It seemed her master had his eye on this Soul Beast too.
That was only natural. Her upper body was beautiful enough to rival any woman's.
The black bodysuit beneath her black-and-red dress tightened slightly, tracing her graceful curves.
"She hasn't taken human form yet. I'm not interested in pure Soul Beasts," Jiang Ce added. "Don't let her eyes hit you, or you'll be petrified."
Yan Lingji nodded, and her Martial Soul appeared behind her.
A three-meter-long Nine-Tailed Fire Fox phantom, its fur as scarlet as flames and its nine enormous tails swaying behind it. Waves of scorching heat spread in all directions.
The Fire Spirit Charm Fox.
"First Soul Skill—Flame Spirit Possession."
Flames surged, enveloping Yan Lingji from head to toe.
All her attributes doubled, her fire damage doubled, her Soul Power consumption dropped by twenty percent, and the effect lasted for two hours.
Behind her, the Eight Spider Lances burst from her body. Eight black spears spread out, their tips gleaming with a cold light.
With the External Soul Bone's enhancement, Yan Lingji's attributes climbed even higher.
Combined with the threefold boost Jiang Ce had given her—
Her attributes now exceeded five times their original level.
But,
Her combat power had increased by far more than fivefold!
"Human—"
Medusa's expression darkened, and her slitted pupils flared.
A gray-white beam shot from her eyes, aiming straight for Yan Lingji.
Medusa's Gaze.
In other words, the Petrification Beam.
But the beam pierced through Yan Lingji's body and passed right through her.
An afterimage.
Medusa's pupils contracted sharply.
The next instant,
A Flame Slash roared in from the side. Wrapped in blazing fire and the force to incinerate everything, it slammed into her.
"Ah—!"
Medusa cried out in pain and whipped her tail around to dodge, but it was already too late.
The flames exploded across her body, scorching her scales and flesh.
She gritted her teeth and looked up, but all she saw was Yan Lingji's figure flickering unpredictably through the valley.
Too fast.
So fast that she couldn't keep up at all.
Medusa pursued her frantically.
One Petrification Beam after another shot out, turning the surrounding rocks and trees into gray-white stone statues.
But Yan Lingji moved like a phantom. Each time, she vanished just before the beams arrived, leaving behind only a fiery afterimage.
And Yan Lingji's counterattacks never let up.
Flame Slash, fireballs, Flame Lash—
Blazing attacks came from every direction, striking Medusa with pinpoint accuracy.
She couldn't dodge them or block them.
A short while later,
Medusa was covered in wounds.
Her scales were charred black, her flesh torn and bloody, and blood gushed from the wounds along her tail.
"Damn... damn you, human...!"
Medusa gritted her teeth, a look of resolve flashing in her eyes.
She drew a deep breath. Soul Power surged wildly inside her as she prepared to unleash her final trump card—
Medusa's Despair.
Burning everything to ashes and dragging her opponent down with her.
But at that very moment—
Yan Lingji's eyes suddenly lit up.
Fire Charm: Soul Capture.
Medusa felt a thunderclap explode inside her mind, and her consciousness wavered instantly.
The terrifying power she had been gathering abruptly stopped. Her body stiffened in place, and her eyes went blank.
With severalfold enhancements to her speed and spiritual power, Yan Lingji completely outclassed this thirty-thousand-year-old Medusa.
"It's over,"
Yan Lingji said softly.
A mass of black symbiote seeped out of her body, covering Medusa from head to toe like a living thing.
"Ah—what is this?!"
Medusa tried to struggle, only to find that her body no longer obeyed her.
The black liquid seeped through her scales, infiltrated her body, and devoured her consciousness.
"Ke ke, stop struggling. You can't fight me."
Jiang Ce's deliberately imitated cackle, like that of an elder of the Soul Hall, rang out.
Division.
This was the skill Jiang Ce had obtained earlier—
He could split off half of his cultivation and years to create a mindless body, then move his main consciousness freely between the two bodies.
This had also caused his original lifespan of forty-five thousand years to plummet to twenty-two thousand five hundred.
But the price was worth it.
The black symbiote completely covered Medusa's body, invading the deepest reaches of her consciousness.
The serpent ruler, a thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast, was utterly powerless against the Venom symbiote's invasion.
Her memories were examined one by one.
Her skills were copied one by one.
Venom Pool—conjured a pool of deadly poison that corroded every living thing within range.
Medusa Constriction—coiled around and crushed its target with a serpent's tail, inflicting poison as well.
Venomous Purple Ray—a purple beam that inflicted both poison and a spiritual shock upon impact.
Medusa's Gaze—released a Petrification Beam from both eyes, turning its target into stone.
Serpent Spirit Wings—formed a pair of energy wings on the back, greatly increasing flight speed.
Intangibility—turned the body into energy for a short time, granting immunity to physical attacks.
Serpent Scale Armor—greatly increased scale defense and granted additional resistance to poison attacks.
Venom Domain—released a field of deadly poison. All enemies within range suffered continuous poisoning and steadily weakened.
"You... what are you...?"
Medusa's voice trembled with fear.
She realized she had completely lost control of her body,
and could only watch helplessly as the monster controlled her.
"Good." Jiang Ce stood up using Medusa's body, her tail swaying gently. "From now on, you'll be the Soul Beast guarding this place."
The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had no poison miasma like the one Dugu Bo used to protect his territory; it was merely well hidden.
But with only a thirty-thousand-year-old Medusa guarding it, it was only a matter of time before someone discovered it.
Now, with the Venom symbiote inhabiting Medusa,
her strength would grow by leaps and bounds.
"Y-you wretched—get out of my body!"
Medusa's furious roar echoed through the sea of consciousness, but to no avail.
Jiang Ce controlled her body and used Super Healing to mend her wounds one by one, ignoring her struggles completely.
Jiang Che, this Venom symbiote, was nothing like the Venom symbiote from Marvel.
He wasn't held back by weaknesses like fire, sound waves, or lightning.
In fact,
even fierce resistance or disgust from the host
could weaken the symbiote's power while it was inhabiting them,
and might even forcibly tear it out of the host's body.
Instead, he could keep devouring others, growing stronger and stronger.
But wasn't that even better?
He was Venom.
The strongest Venom!
"Master, this Medusa is quite beautiful too."
Yan Lingji came over and looked Medusa up and down, now that she was wrapped in Venom.
Her upper body was that of a cold beauty, while her lower body was a dark green serpent's tail. She truly had a bewitching beauty.
"All right, little enchantress."
"Don't waste any more time. It's your turn."
"Yes, master."
Before you continue